Indianapolis is home to many famous professional and amateur teams of sports around the world. This city has also developed a unique affection towards motor sports in last few years as well. This environment centered around sports in the city has given this city the perfect atmosphere to develop sports related startups. Investors are spending millions of dollars into many promising ventures. These ventures have the potential to enhance the sports experience for both the fans and the athletes.
“Indianapolis has an incredible sports DNA and emerging tech hub,” stated Jordan Fliegel. He works as the Managing Director at Techstars Sports Accelerator, which is an Indy powered sports technology accelerator program based in the city of Indianapolis. It was founded just last year in 2019. “We are proving we could combine a passion for sports with a growing technology ecosystem.”
Indianapolis-based startups have raised over 1.3 billion US dollars in last half a decade in investments, as reported by Crunchbase. Upper Hand and Stick & Hand are two of the startups to have their funding disclosed over the period of last half a decade, having their head offices in Indianapolis.
“Since forming the sports commission 40 years ago, it has become a powerhouse for attracting sports organizations and big-league sporting events,” stated Scott Dorsey. “An ecosystem of sports tech companies grew up around NCAA and Motorsport, but with Techstars, will attract entrepreneurs from all over the world that will come and fall in love with Indianapolis.” He started up ExactTarget, a company based in Indianapolis which went public during 2012, almost 8 years ago now. Later it was purchased by Salesforce during 2013, which Dorsey believes to be a fruitful tech exit. Dorsey was also the Chairperson of Indiana Sports Corp, which is a civic organization with the goal of fostering community’s economic growth through sports event.
